One way of defining it is to say 'things that happen and get reported as news'. However, across the 188 different countries and 6 billion people on this planet, there are obviously lots of things happening that never make it into the newspapers. Some of the things which are not considered news later become part of history (think of the concentration camps which operated for years before they were reported by the outside world). So news is not about history, but about what some people think other people want to read - it's often about profits, about reporting stories that are saleable to a target market. News is manufactured like any other form of entertainment. But, having said that, news is the information which helps us understand what is going on in the world around us - whether it be politics, sport, celebrity gossip, environmental change, or simply the weather forecast. Access to 'independent' news is considered important in most cultures, and freedom of the press is a right enshrined in Article One of the American consitution.
The Romans were the first to realise the value of recording daily happenings - marriages, deaths, coup d'états etc - and would post these up in public places. These had to be handwritten, however. Newspapers as we know them today really took off with the introduction, in Europe, of the printing press in the late 15th century. Early newspapers were often
very political - and critical - in nature, and were often banned by governments. The longest-published newspaper in the world, The Times, was first printed in 1722 and has been published daily ever since.
Read about the history of newspapers at these sites:
- A brief History of Newspapers
- Newspaper Industry History
- History of Newspapers
- British Library's Collection of Early Newspapers
- Read a newspaper (The London Gazette) from 1674 here
- Look at a comicbook account of newspaper production from 1949 here.
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